Page 2231 - war-and-peace
P. 2231

well and was so cunning and wise that when he returned
         to France he ordered everybody to obey him, and they all
         obeyed him. Having become an Emperor he again went out
         to kill people in Italy, Austria, and Prussia. And there too he
         killed a great many. In Russia there was an Emperor, Alex-
         ander, who decided to restore order in Europe and therefore
         fought against Napoleon. In 1807 he suddenly made friends
         with him, but in 1811 they again quarreled and again began
         killing many people. Napoleon led six hundred thousand
         men  into  Russia  and  captured  Moscow;  then  he  sudden-
         ly  ran  away  from  Moscow,  and  the  Emperor  Alexander,
         helped by the advice of Stein and others, united Europe to
         arm against the disturber of its peace. All Napoleon’s al-
         lies suddenly became his enemies and their forces advanced
         against the fresh forces he raised. The Allies defeated Napo-
         leon, entered Paris, forced Napoleon to abdicate, and sent
         him to the island of Elba, not depriving him of the title of
         Emperor and showing him every respect, though five years
         before and one year later they all regarded him as an outlaw
         and a brigand. Then Louis XVIII, who till then had been the
         laughingstock both of the French and the Allies, began to
         reign. And Napoleon, shedding tears before his Old Guards,
         renounced the throne and went into exile. Then the skill-
         ful statesmen and diplomatists (especially Talleyrand, who
         managed to sit down in a particular chair before anyone
         else and thereby extended the frontiers of France) talked in
         Vienna and by these conversations made the nations hap-
         py  or  unhappy.  Suddenly  the  diplomatists  and  monarchs
         nearly quarreled and were on the point of again ordering

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